LMU filmmakers at Tribeca Festival

There are often encounters in life that are detrimental to one's self-esteem. Encounters that take place between one person and a peer who is so fantastically successful that his or her accomplishments are the King Kong to your Beanie Baby monkey, the Titanic to your remote control boat, the Empire State Building to your five-by-five foot dorm room.

This moment happened to me for the first time when I discovered that the members of Panic! At the Disco were still in high school and embarking on a world tour; it happened for my father when a president was elected to the White House who was younger than he was; and it unfortunately happened for me once again upon learning the ages of the filmmakers of "Palo Alto," an independent film to premiere at this year's Tribeca Film Festival.

At the typically delinquent age of 21, Brad Leong, a student at University of Southern California, is the youngest director at Tribeca this year. He is accompanied by a crew of students and recently graduated filmmakers, comprised of an impressively large number of our very own LMU School of Film and Television students, including editors Kevin Gasca, a senior film production major, and alumnus Danny Walker.

The crew's success as a team is credited by the producer, Daniel Engelhardt, another Doogie Howser of the biz and a student at UCLA for "significantly enhancing the film's production value." Yet their talent for editing is second only to their talent for modesty, as they were unwilling to take full glory for the films success stating, "They gave us some great footage."

At the heart of "Palo Alto" are the stories of the intertwining lives of four college freshman returning home for their very first and very bittersweet Thanksgiving break to rediscover their friends and the lives they were trying to leave behind. As Gasca hopes, "Any person will be able to connect with one of those four characters," which is made particularly true by the fact that the film is starring "the guy in a fraternity, the guy breaking up with his girlfriend, the player jackass and the hopeless romantic." Any girl knows that all males can typically fit snugly into one of these categories.

The film's inspiration is genuine, stemming from the experiences of Leong and screenwriter Tony Vallone during their very own initial returns home. Needless to say, no one can tell a story about college students better than actual college students, which provides a setting for a vivid and everpresent touching masterpiece. Not only did the film's sincere storyline create powerful energy, but simple, youthful excitement permeated the set like it was Christmas Day everyday, with the average age of the crew being only 18 and the editors only 22 and 23.

As Englehardt recounts, the fact that the majority of the crew couldn't purchase a six pack of Bud Light gave the "whole project a very unique vibe." In regards to the negativity toward the youthful faces behind the camera, Engelhardt continues that there was an, "assumption that because they were young it would be hard to pull it together, but I think it was an asset because everyone was so excited that it picked up a lot of momentum, [and] people felt that energy."

This negative assumption, clearly proven incorrect by the success of the film, is a testament to the abilities of young minds (and perhaps toward our film school). Engelhardt states compliments of professionalism were received because the crew was "structured enough that the cast felt comfortable but unique enough that they felt like they were doing something special."

More amazing is the fact that professionalism could have been achieved at all, since I would have been too busy stargazing at the many idols that the film's cast boasts, including Tom Arnold, Ben Savage, Autumn Reeser, Aaron Ashmore, Johnny Lewis and Justin Mentell. With stars ranging from "Roseanne" to "Boy Meets World" and even "The O.C.," the intimidation was clearly evident.

Yet Gasca asserts that the crew remained focused, and what would have been my fright became their enthusiasm, apprehensive only at first, for as he explains, "the scariest day is day one, but the happiest day is day two when you realize you have something…we saw it [was] there."

As impending success for these inspired filmmakers approaches, the opening day, April 25 is now fast approaching. The cast and crew grow jittery with hope that the film will be picked up for distribution. And if the film does hit the screens, Danny Walker has the perfect plan for his future success: "Pay off my student loans."